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FAA urges airlines to ban large electronic devices from checked luggage


Jim Feeley

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Looks like the focus is on laptops. No idea if the proposal includes or could be interpreted to include our equipment, but the proposed ban on "portable electronic devices" (including "laptop computers, cameras, camcorders") does say, "We believe that it would be difficult for passengers to understand and correctly meet requirements that vary based on the specific content of their checked baggage."

 

So mostly I worry about the peripheral stuff I can't carry on and about can't-talk-your-way-out-of-them gate checks. Worth keeping an eye on. (hat tip to Matt Mayer) 

 

From the Associated Press.

 

US: Laptops in checked bags pose fire, explosion risk

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is urging the world airline community to ban large, personal electronic devices like laptops from checked luggage because of the potential for a catastrophic fire.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a paper filed recently with a U.N. agency that its tests show that when a laptop’s rechargeable lithium-ion battery overheats in close proximity to an aerosol spray can, it can cause an explosion capable of disabling an airliner’s fire suppression system. The fire could then rage unchecked, leading to “the loss of the aircraft,” the paper said.

The U.N. agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, sets global aviation safety standards, although member countries must still ratify them. The proposed ban is on the agenda of a meeting of ICAO’s panel on dangerous goods being held this week and next week in Montreal.

The FAA has conducted 10 tests involving a fully-charged laptop packed in a suitcase. A heater was placed against the laptop’s battery to force it into “thermal runaway,” a condition in which the battery’s temperature continually rises.

 

Rest of the AP story:

https://apnews.com/214c6dfcf12e43b49a0dc74082c31db7

 

 

Here's a link to a PDF of the 5-page proposal:

DGP.26.WP.043.2.en.pdf

 

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